1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cup holder, which is disposed in automotive passenger rooms. More specifically, it relates to a cup holder, which makes space saving attainable, that is, which occupies passenger-room space as less as possible, or which is downsized or made smaller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Considering the usability for a passenger who sits on the driver's seat and a passenger who sits on the navigator's seat, it has been thought of providing an automotive console with a cup holder. However, the console box has been already provided with a shift knob, and, in certain cases, the inside might be provided a duct for air-conditioning the rear seats. Therefore, in the console, the space that is available for the cup holder has become limited inevitably.
For example, when providing a console with a cup holder with a circular holder hole formed, there might arise such a case that it is not possible to securely provide the holder hole with a sufficiently deep depth because of the spatial limitation in the height direction. Such a cup holder cannot hold container having taller height.
In view of above, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2005-112,248 proposes a cup holder, which is provided with a lid body for closing a holder hole that is formed in an accommodation body; and in which the peripheral wall of the holder hole is made ascendable and descendible. This conventional cup holder can maintain a neat appearance because, at the descent position, the peripheral wall becomes flush with the lid body and with the accommodation body when it is not in service. Moreover, the conventional cup holder can securely make an available passenger-room space greater because it is possible to make its overall height shorter. In addition, when the conventional cup holder is in service, not only the peripheral wall ascends to protrude from the accommodation body so as to support the side surface of container, but also the lid body goes down so as to support the bottom of container. Therefore, when using the conventional cup holder, it is possible to hold container with taller height because it is possible to securely provide it with an ample height from the lid body to the peripheral wall's leading end.
However, the conventional cup holder has a complicated construction that uses an endless belt, for instance, because it is needed to ascend and descend the peripheral wall of the holder hole and to ascend and descend the lid body independently to each other. Accordingly, the conventional cup holder has problems in that it has become difficult to keep the operational accuracy high for a long period of time, and in that it has become highly costly because the number of component parts and the man-hour requirement of assemblage have become considerable. Moreover, since the conventional cup holder is made so that the lid body's decorative surface supports container, it has suffered from such a drawback that the decorative surface is likely to be damaged.
Moreover, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2005-206,138 sets forth a cup holder, which comprises a cup supporter plate that is disposed movably upward and downward in a holder hole. The gazette also sets forth not only to support the bottom of container with the cup supporter plate but also to turn the cup supporter plate upward to use it as a lid when the conventional cup holder is not in service. However, this second conventional cup holder is highly expensive so that it has not yet been used commonly at present, because it employs an electric motor as a constituent element for driving the cup supporter plate.
In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2005-324,594 discloses a cup holder, which comprises a holder body, and a lid being disposed rotatably to the holder body. The lid has a decorative surface, and a supporter surface being disposed oppositely to the decorative surface. Moreover, the lid moves between a close position, at which the lid covers an opening of the holder body with the decorative surface being directed upward, and an open position at which the lid is accommodated in the inner accommodation space of the holder body with the supporter surface being directed upward. This third conventional cup holder makes it possible to inhibit the decorative surface from being damaged, because it is constructed so that the supporter surface, which is disposed oppositely to the decorative surface, supports the bottom of container. However, when the third conventional cup holder holds container with taller height, it might be associated with a drawback in view of available passenger-room space, because it is necessary to securely provide a large distance or dimension from the supporter surface, which is placed at the open position, to the opening of the holder body so that the holder body has been upsized. Moreover, it might be difficult to make the third conventional cup holder inexpensively, because it might possibly require a complicated mechanism for rotating the lid.